Florida Baptists hold steady as Tropical Storm Fay comes ashore

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)-As Florida Baptists braced for an onslaught of rain, Tropical Storm Fay made its second landfall in Florida, South of Naples, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Fay crossed the Keys Mon., Aug. 18, leaving high waters but little else in its wake after it moved through the Caribbean, leaving 14 reported dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Tues, Aug. 19, the Disaster Relief Department of the Florida Baptist Convention sent personnel to the Keys to assess needs. They reported no significant need there, with local cleanup teams remaining on alert.

“Fay will take 2-3 days to clear the state and there will be lots of water over that time,” said Fritz Wilson, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief and Recovery Department. “The ground will be thoroughly saturated causing some trees to fall down as a result of the soggy soil combined with high winds. Still those incidents will be sporadic and isolated.”

The Associated Press reported Southwest Florida International Airport near Fort Myers postponed about 140 flights Tuesday and many schools and businesses closed throughout the peninsula, including those in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas.

In Key West, Ozzie Vater, senior pastor of Fifth Street Baptist Church, said Tuesday there was localized flooding but no real damage that he could see.

"We needed the rain so it was the best case scenario, without the property damage," Vater said. "We prayed for the best on Sunday and it never did intensify. Everything went well."

Further up the western side of the peninsula, in Punta Gorda, where deadly Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm punched the community in 2004, Paul Russell, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, said he was keeping a cautious eye on Fay.

"It was reminiscent of Charley," Russell said, of the watching and waiting for Fay to arrive Tuesday. Although, the pastor said four years ago there was little warning for the savage storm that abruptly turned into their community and church.

"This time we battened down the hatches and boarded up the windows but haven't really seen anything much," Russell said, speaking only of some heavy rain and some wind.

Settling down with his 4 1/2-year-old daughter, Desire, to watch a movie, Russell said she was just eight months old but has heard stories of how they all got in the closet together with the cat when Charley moved through.

"She prayed God would make the hurricane go a different way this time," Russell sighed.

Dropping only a few limbs as the storm moved through his yard in Avon Park, Vernon Harkey, pastor of First Baptist Church said he believed Fay didn't appear to be doing much damage.

"I don't know what's happening elsewhere, but I think we'll fare a lot better than last time when we had the trio," Harkey said.

The trio? Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Three storms that hit the same region of Florida in 2004 causing enormous damage.

As the storm clears different parts of the state, Disaster Relief will follow up with calls and visits as needed. “We are strongly recommending to our units and teams across the peninsula to be ready to respond to local needs as they arise,” Wilson said.

State Cleanup Coordinator, Leon Branch, reported a trailer community in Barefoot Bay, south of Melbourne, with 30 trailers damaged. Disaster Relief first responded to this area in 2004 after it received damage during Hurricane Jeanne. Brevard Baptist Association Disaster Relief assessors will be on site to determine their needs.

“We will not be able to do any work until the rain stops tonight,” said Wilson. “Still, this remains a local event and we will use teams from the area to help.”

This continues to be a rain event, according to Wilson who pointed out the region is in the "peak part" of the hurricane season and still has about 8-10 weeks to go until things return to normal.

 “We have some concerns for flooding in Jacksonville around the St. John’s River and Black Creek areas but that threat is dependant upon the track of the storm," Wilson concluded.

Florida Baptists are officially represented at the State Emergency Operation Center in Tallahassee by Eddie Blackmon, the Convention's Men’s Missions and Ministries Department director.

Blackmon reported that while there was some concern of flooding, “things are mostly quiet.”

With additional reporting by Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness